]]>This week alone my food at two local eateries arrived, surprisingly, on heavy metal trays (see below). These are places that might otherwise have used good plateware given their style and relatively steep menu prices. Yet instead they employ an item that likely reminds people of the school cafeteria, prison or mess hall. Maybe trays instead of plates is a trend limited to Cleveland, but somehow I doubt it.

To be sure, restaurants are capable of surprising ways of serving food. Steak, for example, sometimes shows up on a cutting board. It’s usually been sliced by then. I’ve seen burgers impressively served (on a plate, however) with a huge steak knife rammed into its center.

The tray itself has a practical history in foodservice, being a tool that servers have used to tote food to table for millennia. Those trays nonetheless disappeared from view once the dishes were dropped off. My tray remained in front of me while I ate.

And yet I can’t help but think that — whether the restaurant owners are aware or not — trays remind diners of a time when they may have gathered at common tables to break bread with fellow students and friends. In that sense, the trays may be stimulating happy memories — welcome in a restaurant. And if not, well, the trays are something to talk about on social media and in blog posts. Thats not all bad, either.

]]>The wedding tastinghttp://davefarkas.com/the-wedding-tasting/
Fri, 23 Jan 2015 14:02:47 +0000http://www.davefarkas.com/?p=285I probably should have taken a picture or two of the food served yesterday at Marigold Catering. But the moment didn’t seem right. Kathy and I were sitting alongside Mary and Tom — the groom’s parents — sampling the food … Continue reading →

]]>I probably should have taken a picture or two of the food served yesterday at Marigold Catering. But the moment didn’t seem right. Kathy and I were sitting alongside Mary and Tom — the groom’s parents — sampling the food our daughter and Brian picked for their June wedding. Tom and Mary are lovely people, by the way, and I didn’t want to interrupt the quiet event by snapping away with my phone. What’s more, sending the images to Chloe and Brian (which they’d hadn’t asked for) might bring up even more questions than we had. I guess what I’m saying is, there’s no food porn here.

]]>World Cup: England win!http://davefarkas.com/world-cup-england-win/
Sat, 14 Jun 2014 15:35:32 +0000http://www.davefarkas.com/?p=270Clever animation: England beats Italy in its first game 1-0. Well, this is merely an animation, but a hopeful one that made me laugh. The side should be so lucky today.

]]>Fear of heightshttp://davefarkas.com/fear-of-heights/
Mon, 02 Jun 2014 17:14:14 +0000http://www.davefarkas.com/?p=261This picture — of a good friend and his infant son — suggests humans fear heights from a very early age. After all, Bill and his one-year-old are on a balcony 14 stories above Michigan Ave. in Chicago. So do infants … Continue reading →

]]>This picture — of a good friend and his infant son — suggests humans fear heights from a very early age. After all, Bill and his one-year-old are on a balcony 14 stories above Michigan Ave. in Chicago. So do infants have an innate fear of heights?

You might think fear of heights would be innate, since falling from high up can result in injury or death. But babies with little experience of crawling are not afraid of heights. “Mothers almost universally report that their babies go through a phase wherein they will go over the edge of a bed or a changing table if a caregiver doesn’t intervene,” says Joseph Campos at the University of California in Berkeley, who supervised the research. Then suddenly, six weeks or so after they learn to crawl, they seemingly become scared.

Bill’s baby crawls a lot. In fact, he probably beginning to walk by now. So his dubious glance down likely signals he’s a bit uncomfortable. To witness real fright consider this news video of a recent episode in which tourists were standing on a Willis Tower sky deck far above Chicago’s downtown when it began to crack.

]]>How tell you’re in Phoenixhttp://davefarkas.com/how-tell-youre-in-phoenix/
Sat, 29 Mar 2014 00:50:51 +0000http://www.davefarkas.com/?p=239The heat is one significant indication. So are the thousands of people who jam area baseball fields during spring training. And, I suppose, pistol-packing denizens also suggest that you’re at least in Arizona. But really nothing says the American Southwest … Continue reading →

]]>The heat is one significant indication. So are the thousands of people who jam area baseball fields during spring training. And, I suppose, pistol-packing denizens also suggest that you’re at least in Arizona. But really nothing says the American Southwest like a towering cactus. (P.S. I snapped this image while on a retreat with a group of restaurant consultants.)